When you hit middle age you really only have two choices: you can get fat and lazy until you roll over and die, or you can can get off your ass and do something, like maybe ride a bike.
Bluntness
I've also been told I have little tact, so if this offends you simply ride on.
So, yesterday was a bit different, all around. The day started off with bright sunshine, temps were moderate. I had my eye exam. Had my eyes dilated. My ophthalmologist gave me a pair of those very unstylish sunglasses to protect my eyes from the glaring sun. By the time I got to work, however, the skies had grown overcast. I discovered I was scheduled for a lunch break and hadn't brought a lunch. Then the weather turned sour, with heavy sleet and rain. I scavenged my lunch, ending up with a Styrofoam cup of Ramen noodles and strawberry Pop Tarts. Tastee!
In the end, all I really got out of yesterday were some really neato shots of the inside of my eyes. The eye on the left is actually my right eye and the one on the right is my left. There are some light reflections on the screen and that banding across the bottom was caused by the camera and has nothing to do with the eye,
I am still borderline glaucoma, so I have an appointment for next February when we will do the whole thing again.
And I don't know about you, but I find myself feeling rather gleeful every time I hear the bad news coming from Dominion's lawsuit against Fox. This doesn't mean I'm not pissed off by the evil that Fox represents, rather I am pleased that this shit, which so many of us have known in our hearts for so long, is finally being made public. The fact that Fox sent copies of Biden's campaign commercials to Jared Kushner for analysis before airing them is treasonous, but then that's true for the entire conservative movement. Why do conservatives feel the need to cheat? No doubt it's because they're a minority group who can't win an election without deceit.
As for old man Murdoch? I'll bet that asswipe is shittin' bricks. He pulled this same crap in the UK, funding conservatives who chose to listen to him in an attempt to control parliament. There, too, it was one of his newspapers that brought him down. Crushed him. He got hit in the face with a cream pie and suffered public humiliation. I don't doubt he has a little itch in his brain sayin' "been there, done that, doin' it again." I, for one, find this simply satisfying as hell.
Sorry, not blog today. Had an early eye appointment. The dilation will be gone by around noon, but I'll be at work by then. See you all tomorrow, with graphic pictures.
Until then, here's a little clip from my YouTube channel regarding the location for my next book.
Well, the forever flurries never happened yesterday. Occasionally one or two would dash themselves against my windshield as I drove to work, but other than that precipitation was a bust. Today, temps are predicted to climb back up into the 50s (F).
My left leg was sore last night. I don't doubt for a second it's the result of my climb in through the window. Once I was halfway in, I not so limberly pulled my left knee up and squeezed it between my chest and the window frame. Believe me, when pulling yourself through a small opening, traction is everything.
For right now, it will only be my eBooks which will be selling through Barnes & Noble. Their antiquated system for setting up cover art for a paperback is way too cumbersome. To give you an idea: you have to turn a jpeg into a PDF, however PDFs have specific sizes, so you need to download software which will let you go into the PDF's preflight tool to adjust the size to fit the page, and then you save it. After that you need to open Word and bring up the saved PDF as a photo so you can do changes to both fonts and colors because the PDF/x 1.a you created only uses grayscale. Amazon, on the other hand, not only uses a jpeg for cover art, they will size it for you at no extra charge.
For those interested, this is the window I used to break into my house.
New wise, yesterday seemed fairly quiet, mostly because the Republicans didn't do anything truly stupid. They seem to be re-evaluating their nonexistent plan. They were hoping their committees would produce explosive headlines about Hunter Biden's laptop... ain't happening. They had also been hoping to make hay with the East Palestine trail derailment, however Trump showing up with pallets of 10 year old bottled Trump water sort of put a damper on that.
There was a bit of sunshine, however, evidently on December 28, a Federal Judge ruled that Scott Perry's defense for keeping his cell phone contents secret was pretty much bullshit. This means that through out January and for most of the month of February, the DOJ has probably been looking at Perry's messages and emails. He was evidently heavily involved in the fake elector scheme. This means Scotty's days in the house may be numbered.
We're supposed to have enduring flurries today, my turn of phrase. Accuweather's Wintercast (winter forecast) has us in a snow event: flurries for 8 hours. The temps are cold, 29 (F) and are only predicted to top in the mid 30s. Tomorrow it's back up into the 50s. The long range forecast has the temps seesawing, but then we're only a little over 3 weeks from Spring.
Every now and then we do things we later regret, such a thing happened to me yesterday. My backdoor is usually unlocked during the day because the dogs go out, sometimes a lot, depending upon how many bunnies decide to run through the yard. For some unknown reason, yesterday morning I turned the little tab on the doorknob to lock in the morning. No problem. I could still go outside, I just needed to leave the door open. Of course, yesterday was windy and while Lily and I were out cleaning up dog doo, a gust of wind slammed the door shut. Shit. I was locked out. Both front and back doors were locked tight. Double shit. My only access was through an unlocked window. That meant climbing up on a small storage unit, forcing the window open and pulling myself up 5 feet to clamber in through the opening. Oh, and I forgot to tell you Biggie was inside. As I teetered on the window sill, half in and half out, he took advantage of me. Yep, he gave me a face bath with his rather large tongue. In spite of my situation, locking myself out and all, I had to laugh. And, changes have been made so I never lock myself out again.
My entry was through the little window on the right
If anyone had any doubts about Tulsi Gabbard being a Russian asset, they should have been dispelled last evening when she compared Joe Biden to Hitler. Rumors of this have gone back to the days when she was a Senator from Hawaii. She changed her party affiliation from Democrat to Independent, though sides with Republican Right Wing extremists. I don't doubt she's bitter about being a failed politician. Trying not to be relegated as a 'has-been,' she's chosen a path that will take into the only loving arms that will have her.
An interesting side note about Tulsi: her sister runs a personal security business that has only one client, Kristen Sinema, another loser trying to give female politicians a bad name.
Well, we didn't quite get as toasty as they were predicting yesterday. Our temps decided to hang out at around 73 (F). Don't get me wrong, that's still a very nice temperature and the day was simply lovely. I wore shorts outside, of course, since I've been wearing shorts on and off for most of the winter that's not too special.
I spent some time chatting with a tech from Adobe yesterday learning how to size a PDf to satisfy Barnes & Noble's requirements for cover art. The changes need to be done in what's called the Preflight tool. I was so happy when I submitted the cover and it was accepted... until I got an error. They were having a problem converting the PDF/x-1a. Well, son of a bitch! I've sent them an email for an explanation. So far there's been no response. My patience is running out. I'm almost to the point where I'll only sell the ebook through them.
Last yesterday afternoon I received an email from Amazon. My Cosori air fryer was being recalled. There's a problem with some of the wiring; it might catch fire. I saw that 2 million are being recalled. That's a lot of faulty wiring. They'll replace it for free, so I started the process, cut the cord and sent the pictures.
Today's the one year anniversary of Russia's invasion of the Ukraine. Things are not going well for Trump's Blo Bro Vlad. Will wannabe authoritarian dictators learn their lesson? Absolutely not. They may temper their ambition for a short time, but that will pass. One of the reasons they will never change is billionaires. Money talks. While Russian oligarchs have been financially injured by the war, those injuries are minor, scratches and nicks that will heal. They may actually replace Vlad because he screwed things up so badly. Unfortunately, they will most likely put another incompetent in power. Money talks, but it doesn't make you smart. Look at Elon Musk, if you want a good example. That man is stupid.
Hello Thursday morning. We're supposed to have record breaking temps today. As always, I have a wait and see attitude. The sky is overcast and there is a whopper of a winter storm crossing the state just above us. Originally we were supposed to climb into the upper 70s (F), that no longer seems to be the case, so revisions are being made to the forecast as I type.
There was a slight hiccup in getting paperback version of The Body on the Lawn set up in Barnes & Noble. I was sounding a lot like Bobby Tussel yesterday when I found out they only accept pdf photos for cover art. I have no problem converting a jpeg to a pdf, however there are limitations when it comes to sizing. Windows will create fairly standard page sizes, however the template requires a photo 5.895 inches, a size that is not on the menu. To blunt my frustration, I went downstairs and killed a number of robots in Atomic Heart. After that, I quietly subscribed to Adobe which will permit me to convert any jpeg to a pdf in any size my little heart desires.
I went to see Ant Man and The Wasp last evening. It's entertaining, for the most part. Except for a few scenes at the beginning and end, you're in a CGI Universe. I watched a Scottish reviewer call it shite. Well, it isn't, not really. The Marvel Studios has the formula for turning comic books into hit movies down pat. They will only change it if forced to. That being said, I didn't think Paul Rudd was nearly as funny as he's been in the past. Part of the success for the Ant Man series depends upon his comedic talents. Because they weren't there, I noticed other things, like the fact that his head is so much bigger than his body. Cory Stoll has a supporting role and he has the same problem: big head, little body. If you have Disney, you might want to wait until this one streams.
The Republicans, it seems are also in their own little universe, though without Ant Man to protect mankind. They are the party the wants to say "shut up, we're in charge," and they believe that everybody will listen to them and do as they say. They don't understand they're a minority group, or that a majority of the people do not want them in charge. They have also proven time and time again that they do not learn lessons. They are stuck in repeat mode because they are desperate to run the country their way, and only their way. Democracy is useless to them. They simply don't understand that if they keep pushing their agenda, there will be civil disobedience. Maybe that's what it will take for them to learn.
Rain is in the forecast. How much we're going to get today is anybody's guess. The weather map has big splotches of blue snow heading our way but the temps outside are in the mid 30s (F). We may end up with some big, fat wet flakes that melt when they hit the ground at first. Today is also supposed to be cool, tomorrow temps are predicted to pop up into the mid 70s (F) before falling back down to what's considered normal spring weather. Of course, spring is still a month away.
I have an eye appointment on Monday morning and for some reason I didn't ask off for work. Actually, I'm surprised that I even made it for a Monday since that is always one of the days that I'm scheduled to sit at the flooring desk. I will call and get my start time changed to noon since there's a possibility my eyes will end up getting dilated.
Some day this week, I want to paint my kitchen ceiling. I scrubbed it down yesterday. Because of cooking, kitchen ceilings can be the worst. I must have twisted the wrong way while up on the ladder because my lower 5 vertebrae are having a bit of a fit; nothing that some quality time with a heating pad won't cure.
For dinner last night I made fish chowder. It was the first time for this recipe and I have to tell you, it's a keeper. Rather than heavy cream, evaporated milk is used. This chowder is quite tastylicious. \
The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) has gotten involved with the New Palestine chemical mess. It is a shame politics had to become involved with the problem, but it did, though not in the way some might think. Right from the start, the Republican governor, Bill DeWine said things were under control, that no help was needed. This was his way of saying Ohio didn't want to be beholding to a Democratic administration. Offers were made for assistance by the Biden administration and they were politely declined, until the Republicans realized they could play this top their advantage.
What is interesting about the entire situation is how Karma has come into play. You see, the Obama administration passed legislation require brakes on rail cars to be upgraded to avoid such derailments. Trains go very fast in the country and brake to a much slower speed when coming to towns. Brake failure was a major factor in the New Palestine derailment. So, how could that happen? Well, Norfolk Southern, the rail company responsible, among others, complained these upgrades were too expensive. So the Trump administration rolled back that legislation so brakes were not upgraded. People in New Palestine voted heavily for Trump in both elections. This is how Karma works.
I am looking out my window at dense fog. In time, it will burn off or blow away. We have a high wind warning for this afternoon. I have battened down the hatches, so to speak ( the lids are tight upon my garbage cans so they do not blow away). Since today is garbage day, however, I do not doubt that since most of my neighbors work, their cans and lids will be rolling up and down the street.
I saw that I have an eye appointment on Monday. I also have an eye appointment. I will have to call and change my start time and hope they don't dilate my eyes. Either that, or I'll just have to take a personal day. I have more than enough hours on the books.
My friend Betsy called me last night. She has an appointment today to get an passport and she wanted to know if she could use as point of contact in case of an emergency. Of course, I said yes. She's going on a cruise to Nassau and the Virgin Islands with some friends. This will be her a first for her. She told me she was thinking of taking some of her art supplies along. I told her just to take pictures with her phone. I don't think she understands how busy she will be. The friends she's going with don't like the beach, or the shore; they love the little stores and boutiques. The tourist traps they're going to go will be like little Meccas to them.
And Biden went to the Ukraine.
This pissed off a lot of Republicans, as well as Trump's blow bro Vlad. They hate it when he does things presidential.
Vlad is enraged because his 3 day war has taken over a year and Russia is still losing. That makes both he and his ego look bad. What he thought were best laid plans have proven to be shit because he was wrong about so many things. Putin has always been a bumbling idiot who always managed to dress himself with the appearance of power. Now, metaphorically speaking, he's running around naked.
Kevin McCarthy handed over 40,000 + hours of security footage from January 6 to Tucker Carlson's producers. This man is pure evil. He knows that footage will cut, and sliced, and edited to fit the Republican lie that there was no insurrection. This is his attempt to discredit the January 6 committee. He doesn't care if his actions incite the MAGA base to violence. In case you haven't realized it yet, he desperately wants to be a mini-Putin. If something were to happen to Biden and Harris, he would be next in line for the presidency. That thought crosses his mind constantly. This is the truth.
I had a short shift at work, yesterday. I enjoyed being able to head home while the sun was still shining. The temps weren't bad, either, siting in the mid-50s (F). The forecast on Wednesday is for rain and they're supposed to dip, however they're supposed to pop back up into the low 70s (F) on Thursday. That's right, the 70s. That's still a little too warm for this time of the year in this part of the country. Temps like that cause one to pause and ponder what this summer is going to be like.
Yesterday was fairly quiets in the home improvement retail world, at least as far as flooring was concerned. The appliance department was very busy, you would never know there's supposed to be a recession. I'm suspecting people have just decided prices aren't going to go back down (they aren't) and just deal with the added expense. A well organized national boycott might help, but that will never happen.
I saw where the moral degenerate, Donald Trump, has posted a jolly comment on Truth Social about his ex-BFF Rupert Murdoch and the news outlets he owns. They're all fake news. Yep, that's right. Of course, most of us realized a long time ago that unless a news outlet kisses the orange anus, they're fake news. For the first time in a very, very... well, maybe for the first time in his life, Trump has been honest accurate. We've all known that Fox News is fake news for years. His jolly post will hurt them almost as much as the Dominion law suit, maybe more since his base consists of quite a few individuals losers who believe Fox News is sacred. And, luckily for Trump, so many people repost his comments on Twitter, and Mastodon, and Post, and Tribal, that the entire world knows exactly what he thinks of Fox. As Eli would say, just before he reaches for his glass of wine, shit.
So, yesterday the store manager called and politely asked if I'd come in early. I, just as politely, said yes since it meant I'd get to leave earlier. However, I didn't get in my speed walk on the treadmill. Rats. Because my shift for today is scheduled to start at 10:30, I'll need to type this fast to try and get a couple miles in. We'll see how fast that happens.
And work was busy in the morning. I have more than enough measures for the week, and my sales are fine, too.
I did finally get an email yesterday from Barnes & Noble that my account has been approved and is ready to publish. They seemed slow out of the starting gate right from the beginning. The first problem was that they didn't accept digitally signed W9s and there was nothing in their instructions that noted this. The sentence regarding signatures just said that my W9 needed to be signed. It took almost a month of arguing emails between the two of us before someone told me that. Interestingly enough, they now accept digital signatures. And then the approval process to activate my account took forever, literally months. Son of a bitch!
For those wondering, my daffodils are just about ready to burst into bloom.
Whether it was because I was too busy to pay attention or not, yesterday seemed to be politically on the quiet side. The same conservative buffoons and blowhards were spouting out the same drivel. People are still chattering about Dominion's release of the Fox emails. That's one story that's going to have legs.
The silence surround Mark Meadows is leading some to believe he's cooperating with the DOJ. That wouldn't surprise me. Like many Republicans, his loyalty has always been decided upon what's best for his ass and he's not about to let that ass fry.
And finally, if you think Republicans have decided to target Pete Buttigieg you're right. He's far more intelligent than most of them and puts them in their place as frequently as possible. They do see him as a serious threat. His response so far seems to imply that he enjoys attacking their charges no matter how simplistic they may be.
I got a lot done yesterday. I'm always pleased when most of the chores on my list get accomplished. I see this as proof that I don't turn into a slug in between books. This doesn't mean I'm not making notes. They are a constant. It even has a working title: The Body in Motion. Now, ain't that snappy?
I had an offer from Xbox for 3 free months of Apple TV +. Anybody who knows me knows that I am not an Apple Head, one of those sad individuals who lives and breathes Apply. Once I did buy an rather large iMac at the recommendation of a friend; 3 weeks after the warranty ran out the hard drive devoured itself. That's what I was told by Apple IT as one of their techs remotely tried to save it. He failed. Anyway, I thought 3 months free isn't bad and I've always wanted to watch Foundation, so I went through the process of reactivating my Apple account. I found Foundation in the menu, however when I selected the program I got an error message: This browser does not support the playing of Foundation. I can, however, play it on an android tablet or phone. What fresh horseshit it this? If I ever get the chance to watch Foundation, I want to watch it on my big screen TV, not a tablet, or computer desk. Needless to say, I promptly cancelled my subscription to Apple TV +.
Here's a little video about what happens to my notes after I finish a book. Posterity? Ain't that a kicker.
Of course, Dominion, the company suing Fox News, published quite a few disturbing emails on Thursday and the repercussions are still bouncing off the walls. Here's the gist: Fox knew Trump lost the election and that his minions were spinning unbelievable lies, its broadcasters (Hannity, Ingraham, et al) knew this too, yet the network endorsed these lies to keep from losing viewers to Newsmax. Here's a bit from the Washington Post if you want a more detailed explanation. Will Dominion win its lawsuit? It is difficult to say. Fox is saying their First Amendment rights give them the permission to say whatever they want. What will come into play is their insistence of calling themselves a news channel. From what I've read, this is a true nightmare for the network. They jumped into a real shithole when they chose to ignore the truth in order to satisfy their loyal viewers. They may survive, but a name change to Fox Conspiracy Channel might be required.
Foggy and drizzly, with the temps hovering at 53 (F) is how today is starting out. The weather will improve over the coming hours, but the temps begin to drop. We're heading back into the tail end of winter. Winter's been very warm so far. You'll get no complaints about that for me.
I did have to chortle privately at work when one of my associates told me that the winter wasn't cold enough to kill off the insects. I don't know if he was talking about insect eggs, or those hibernating. Honestly, we've had warm winters before and I've never noticed the difference. Being close to the river I will have to deal with gnats occasionally, but never swarms, and the Susquehanna is only 3/4 of a mile away (if that).
And business was slow yesterday. You can't sell an installation if there aren't any customers in the store. I have noticed an uptick in online measures. I would not want to buy carpet for my house without actually touching and feeling it.
It was sad to see Bruce Willis has dementia. He is only 67 years old. His career has filled many lives with memorable moments; over 100 films. I will never forget sitting in a packed movie theater and hearing people crying at the end of Armageddon.
And, of course, sections of the Grand Jury report in Atlanta were released yesterday. Caution needs to be taken. I did see on Twitter where are least 2 individuals were shrieking that Trump needed to be indicted. Both received scathing rebukes because not only were no names mentioned, the recommendations for indictment were for those individuals who were believed to have committed perjury, Lyndsey Graham, for example. What wasn't released was the middle section, think of it as the meat and potatoes of the report. What we got were the appetizer and the desert, that main course, the part where they might recommend Trump be indicted for racketeering has yet to be served.
Finally, a few words about the mess in Ohio. I was not surprised when the same people who voted for Trump pushed back on a Tweet for Buttigieg noting the former president deserved some of the responsibility, since it was his administration which relaxed the safety rules regarding rail shipments. His MAGA base is dealing with a great disconnect from reality. They truly define the Republican party.
Yesterday was nice and sunny, and by that I mean the temps topped 70 (F). There was a bit of a breeze in the air, but nothing to complain about. Temps are supposed to coast back down into the more seasonal range. I can deal with that. We've basically got a month and a couple of days until we are officially in spring. Then we'll be able to say "what a strangely warm winter we've had."
I had lunch with my cousin Robin and her husband yesterday. I'm the baby of the bunch by 3 months. Being the baby can be good when you're as old as we are. Afterwards, I stopped in to see my Aunt Lois. She reminded me she's 88. The Snyder side of the family has always been long lived. We laughed at our old memories... and they are old. Both of my sets of grandparents were from a small town named Pine Grove and, unlike the rest of my cousins, I spent much of my summer off from school with them. It was a good visit.
Editor number 2 has The Body Under Ice. Later this morning, after my treadmill time, I want to do another little video for YouTube. They're fun, too,.
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute released an 86 minute video of the Titanic. There is no narration, but there music, just the footage that was shot the first time they sent a camera down in 1986. The ship is continually falling apart, and will not be a long term memorial for those who died. I think that's what people though was going to happen. There are frequent trips down to see the wreckage and apparently souvenirs are being taken. Honestly, I have no problem with that.
Today is Release Day. In other words, some of the Grand Jury report on Trump's Atlanta interference is going to be released to the public, i.e. the prologue and the conclusion. Oh, and there's a bit about the liars. You know? Those people who swore to tell the truth and then lied. I do believe the reason the judge decided to have Release Day was an incentive for Fani to speed up the action, another way to tell her it's time to either indict or get off the pot, so to speak.
And evidently a 3rd Trump attorney has been forced to testify in Jack Smith's investigation. These attorney's are basically being treated as hostile witnesses. If they get caught lying, they can be prosecuted. We all know that by working for Trump, lying is second nature to them.
So is everybody planning on having a wonderful Wednesday? or, perhaps I should say, something that's a lot more than simply tolerable. That's actually a sad thing to say, isn't it? That you might just have a tolerable day. I work with an individual who's like that, he always manages to find a problem to complain about. If I had a nickel every time I told him that if he doesn't like his job he should find another, I could buy a decent bottle of wine. His problem is that no job will ever suit him, he will always have issues. I have never had that problem, and I can tell you, I'm planning on having a very good time today.
So, Milky Chance, one of my favorite groups is touring and they're coming to Harrisburg, of all places. Unfortunately, the venue where they're playing, XL Live, is not geared for aging fans. It's general admission, meaning there are no seats because the space is still used as a parking lot during the days. While I don't doubt that I could stand for 3 hours, it's not something I would find particularly enjoyable.
My water bill arrived in the mail yesterday and boy has my water usage dropped. I don't doubt the new washer has quite a lot to do with it. I bought in November, during our great Black Friday sale and my bills have been in decline ever since, and believe me, I still take as many showers as I used to (sometimes 2 a day when I work out).
For those who didn't hear, Mike, mother may I, Pence is trying to get out of his subpoena to testify before the DOJ. Why, you might ask? Because his pea brain still believes he has a shot at getting the nomination for president in 2024. I don't know who's advising this knucklehead, but that opportunity has never, ever existed for him. And I don't doubt for a second that Nikki Haley's advisers are telling her the same thing.
In an odd way, I find this rather pleasing. The larger the number of candidates, the uglier their quest for the nomination will be; in no time they'll be trying to rip each other apart with verbal chainsaws. This is going to hit the GOP hard in the House since it will be their job, using investigations, to attempt to keep America's eyes on them, rather than their backstabbing leaders. Under McCarthy's failed leadership, the House of Representatives will get louder and crazier in order to create a distraction. This could all be rather enjoyable.
I'm scheduled to work over 25 hours this week. (Bit of a heavy sigh). I do enjoy the days that I don't go into work. However, I also don't mind going in and sitting at the flooring desk for a couple of hours a week. Full time is considered 30 hours a week or more and 25 + is too close to that, if you know what I mean.
I've talked before about how the big orange retailer I work for gives bonuses out to employees through what they call Success Sharing. Those checks are dependent upon how closely each store's sales come to either hitting their forecast, or at least coming close. As far as I know, they're still doing Success Sharing this year, though checks are going to be minimal. This is because corporate built a forecast last year based on three years of pandemic sales. Ouch. Prior to Covid, we never hit $1 million a week in sales. During Covid that changed. Sales went though the roof. Over the past year they have dropped off drastically, to pre-Covid figures. In order to compensate the stockholder's greed, they raised prices. That didn't help. Only 3 stores out of 27 came close to hitting their forecast. For 2023 the forecast has been lowered to a more realistic figure, however that is not going to fix the sales for 2022, which means our Success Sharing checks are going to be as dismal as the sales they were based upon.
My angelfish laid eggs again. This is the third time and they did what they did the previous two times. Ate them. They are not known to be good parents. Here's a blurry picture I took of them last evening, before the feasting started.
And, Nikki Hailey announced her candidacy for President this morning. This is how the Republican blood bath begins. This is going to get nasty. His MAGA base is going to bluntly tell America what they really think about women, that they need to leave politics to the men. I'm wondering how long it will be before Trump calls her a two-bit whore, or something similar. I wonder how she's going to deal with the fact that many MAGA brains will say she slept her way into that position.
Word has also come out that those UFO's we've been shooting down are far less sophisticated than the Chinese balloon which started this mess. Oh, and they were smaller. Normally, the Republicans would make hay out of this, however, with Nikki's announcement they'll be focusing on their civil war instead.
The temps are supposed to climb into the upper 50s (F) today, it isn't until tomorrow that we're going to crack that 60 (F) barrier again. Of course, after Wednesday, when I go back to work, they're supposed to do a shallow dive back into the mid 40s (F). We'll have to wait and see if that's true.
As expected, yesterday things were somewhat steady in the retail world of home improvement. I got my 3rd measure for the week. I also talked to a gent who had no idea how heavy a 96 inch wide faux wood blind would be (about 50 pounds). People don't think. I also sold some vinyl tile to a New Orleans police officer who had relocated up to Harrisburg. I brought up The Body in Repose, how it was set in the French Quarter, and had even created an Egyptian night club called the Amon-Ra. He thought that was amusing, then said "it's nice for a quick touristy visit, but it's a bad place to live because of the crime." Just passing this on to those who might be thinking of relocating to a warmer climate.
And, of course, there was something called the Super Bowl on TV. Since I don't watch TV I missed it. Instead, I played Fallout 4. Some guy named Mahomes was the winning quarterback. He evidently was spitting out flapjack comments about how God had was responsible for being there. This was his way of saying that his universe does not extend beyond the 50 yard line, that it's very small. That way he can be very big and very important.
And then there's this:
UFOs abound around us. In case you thought these babies were only soaring over the US, think again. The Russkies are claiming they shot one down last month. Yesterday the Hindu Times noted that the Chinese were going to shoot down another UFO over the Yellow Sea. I'll be honest, these incidents remind me a lot of Star Trek. I mean, how many times did the Enterprise send out unmanned, unarmed probes that were shot down? And while it didn't happen in every episode, the shooting down of probes did happen frequently. Of course, this isn't a movie, or an episode of a TV show. Any species capable of traversing the space between stars would have no problem of exacting serious damage to the planet.
Of course, there's the gods of old have finally decided to show up. Could it be that Zeus is testing the waters, thinking about making a come back? Honestly, I think that would be the essence of awesomeness.
Sunday, the day of rest, and I did sleep in a for a bit. The skies are over cast and the temperatures are hovering around 32 (F). After today, things are going to begin warming up again. We're hitting the mid 60's (F). Tuesday will be a day for cleaning up the yard.
When they emptied out the house next door, they threw lots of detritus out of the 2nd story and 3rd story windows. Papers and lite weight items blew all over the neighborhood, some finding a home behind my fence. Things that I've picked up in my front yard so far: personal letters, medical reports, and tax documents. That and supermarket shopping bags, some of which are hung up in the branches of the trees surrounding my house like tiny ghosts waiting for a breeze to free them.
One of my Navy friends is turning 70 on the 25th. His wife thought it would be nice if 70 of his friends could send him a birthday card. I like the idea and put a note in my calendar to make sure I mailed one off in time. Another of my friends thought it a good idea, too, however he asked her to send him a reminder on the 20th. That's right, he wants a reminder. (Heavy sigh).
So I got the letter from PP&L detailing the price increase. Wowza! In June of 2021 the rate dropped .6 per KWH, however in December of that year it started climbing, increasing by 3.5 per KWH, and then in January of 2023 it increased by another 2.2 KWH. Someone, somewhere is making mucho moola. This is why inflation is high. Everybody's in it for the buck.
Wyoming is raising a stink because there's a group of people who want to actually set the age at which young people can get married. The Republicans are up in arms. You know those Cracker Jack Crazies are going to that's against their religion. There's nothing in their bible which set the age of consent. The fact that 2000 years ago many children didn't survive birth, and if they did, it was quite possible their mother might not doesn't occur to them. Because of this, young girls were married off as soon as they could bear children. See, in the Christian mind, even back then women were nothing more than breeders.
The Super Bowl's this evening. Guess who isn't going to be watching.
Finally, another UFO was shot down over Canada. We have a tad more information about this, since one of the Canadian spokespersons said the object was cylindrical. That sort of rules out a balloon, unless, of course the Chinese shop for their balloons at their local supermarket where they come in all sorts of shapes and sizes.
Well, hello Saturday. We are 38 days from Spring. If the long range forecasts (meaning next week) are accurate, we will be hitting that season early. Weather can be so fickle, though. Still, if they're correct, we should be in the mid 60s (F) by Wednesday. While the good temps have been good for the heating bills, one does hope they don't portend a stinkin' hot summer. Of course, I have a new electric provider, so we'll have to see how that works out.
I haven't baked anything for a while, mostly because I've been busy with other things. I also need to get back on the treadmill. Instead of everyday, it's been every other day.
Biggie no sleeps up on the bed, well at night he doesn't. The minute I turn off the light he's heading down to the couch. Interestingly enough, if I lay down to take a nap during the day he is on that bed faster than you can say "nap." Also, since he's sleeping downstairs, he's no long getting up 2 - 3 times a night to go potty outside. That was one of the reasons they thought he had Cushing's. I'd say that was pretty much a missed diagnosis.
And I popped another little video onto my channel about the upcoming The Body Under Ice. They're fun to do, and while I have an idea of what I'm going to say, mostly their ad-libbed. I did have to re-record one because I said the title of the book wrong and that was followed by a stream of profanity that could have come straight from Bobby Tussel's mouth.
Our military shot down a UFO yesterday. No, not one of those saucery shaped things the people from Alteres Nebulon fly to Earth. Nope, this one was probably a surveillance drone of some sort. Of course, they didn't say it was a surveillance drone, just that it was an unidentified flying object about the size of a small car. It was reported on Twitter that it took Fox news 5 minutes to deride the shooting down. They were slow on the trigger with that one.
I did see some posts that musky Elon was a little perturbed because his Tweets were just hanging there, not a lot of re-Tweets, and his usual number of bots hitting the like button. I find it amusing that one of the richest people in the world's ego is being burned and it turns out he's a cranky as a 12 year old.
Finally, I saw where one of Trump's attorneys turned in another classified document to the DOJ... and also a laptop that had a copy of the document. At least, I think it was the same document. People were quite skittish about that. A document on a laptop can be emailed. There was also mention of a thumbdrive, too. That would make the document so very much more portable. People travel with thumbdrives all the time. They carry them in their pockets. This is not good.
Well, it's Friday and the temp outside is 51 (F). According to the forecast, we'll get a few degrees warmer. We are in February. Normally this past week would have been called a 'winter thaw,' but we've been too warm for anything to really freeze. When the temps are cold, we count down the days until Spring, this year I suspect we will simply slide into our next season.
Yesterday, I used my drying rack for the first time. The only thing I didn't like was the sock clips, though they're not really clips, so I just laid them out on the middle rack. It worked well. In fact, I was surprised at how quickly everything dried.
I had to laugh when I heard that James Carville said that the Republican party is White Trash. I don't know about you, but I realized that a long time ago. The trashing of the party began with the Tea Party, and Newt Gingrich scooted it into the fast track. Prior to that the party catered to intelligence, but then they realized there was an untapped source of votes in those who barely finished high school. Power to the people, the party yelled and those people turned out to be easily manipulated. They preferred red meat and didn't care if it had been rotting in the sun for quite some time. And then John McCain chose Sarah Palin to be his running mate. It's been downhill for the party ever since.
Of course, George Santos is being investigated by the Ethics committee the Republicans gutted. This is a waste of time. McCarthy needs Santos' vote, so he will stay. Even though Santos makes the party look desperate, he will stay. Santos is trash, and he is the face of the Republican party.
The same is true of Marjorie Taylor Greene. If you watch her face as she's calling Biden a liar during his State of the Union speech, it's obvious she's having a grand old time. She was enjoying herself. White trash doesn't understand there is a time and place. White trash simply doesn't care.
Well, it's Thursday and the temps here in Central PA are predicted to climb up into the low 60s (F). Yeah, you read that correctly. Of course, showers are going to be hanging around. Honestly, I wasn't planning on doing any yardwork anyway. The forecast is for them to drop back into the mid to upper 40s (F), which is still nice.
I over-carbed it yesterday... again with home made French fries cooked in my deep fryer. Oh, and I had a balance left on my Dairy Queen gift card which I used on a large Turtle Blizzard. Yum. In about an hour, I'm going to step on the scale. If you live close enough, you'll probably hear me scream.
My first reader has finished going through her copy of The Body Under Ice. I'll be picking up her copy later this morning. She has already texted her 'this doesn't make sense' list. There was nothing on it that was not... terrible. Not like when she read through The Body in the Tower. Holy Crap! Her first comment with that one was "all that bicycle shit in the beginning is boring as hell." Gladly, she didn't find anything 'boring as hell' in The Body Under Ice.
I've a friend who's going to design school up in New York. His main focus is sneakers, though occasionally he'll do a handbag. He and some friends went to the Guggenheim. He was not impressed.
The miniscule minority of Republicans controlling the House is desperately trying to kick that dead horse known as the Hunter Biden laptop for as much publicity as they can get. To do this, they went after Twitter yesterday because in their tiny minds, Twitter permitted all types of liberal messaging while censoring conservative comment. It turns out that both parties requested the removal of content. The White House, itself, was making frequent requests. I enjoyed the exchange where the committee learned how Trump had wanted a comment by Chrissy Teagan removed. He didn't like the fact that she had called him a ''pussy assed bitch," I least I think it was "pussy assed bitch." This has long been a problem for Republicans, jumping to conclusions that will never be concluded.
Another funny bit was these Twitter execs released the names of the 2 individuals who had requested the most censoring and, as you might expect, they were Republicans. In case you're interested, they were Elise Stefanik and Kevin McCarthy. In case you're forgotten, it was Elise who endorsed George Santos.
Good Morning! The weather outside my window here in Central PA is nice, almost reaching the balmy stage. That will happen later this afternoon when the temps reach their high in the mid 50s (F). The same forecast is in store for tomorrow. This winter has been moderate. I've no problem with that. We've also been rainier than usual, with more on the way.
I'm going to try and burn tons of calories today since I ate so many yesterday. My caloric intake always goes through the roof when I go out for breakfast. We ate at Denny's. Even the water has calories at Denny's. Starting off the day with a 1200 calorie omelet always triggers the carb monster I usually manage to control. The only good thing about the carb monster is that when he is finally back under control, my refrigerator and cupboards are clear of high calorie carbs.
They drywaller packed up his gear and left yesterday morning, so I'm fairly certain most of the heavy construction is finished in the house next door. Well, except for the bathrooms. I suspect that's going to be noisy. And, of course, they're going to have to put new siding on the outside. They haven't done anything with the roofs, either. It is all rather interesting.
I made a little video yesterday about the character creation in The Body Under Ice. It's now posted on my Instagram account, as well as my YouTube channel.
The State of the Union was last night. As usual, I didn't watch. While on certain occasions I will watch speeches, mostly I don't. The State of the Union is one I rarely watch. Notice, I'm writing out the name, State of the Union rather than using the acronym. I've never been one of those people whose secret desire is to be trendy.
State of the Union speeches have two purposes, to show how well the president has done, and to allow him to present his plans, a menu of high caloric dishes, if you will, for the next year or so. With the miniscule Republican majority in the House, very little will get accomplished, especially when you realize so many of them are complete brainless. How brainless? Well, they only get exercise when their pet balloons decide to take them for a walk.
Sarah Sanders (Huckabee) gave the Republican rebuttal. I'm certain there are MAGA voters who cheered at the sight of a fat, white woman wearing white, no doubt an attempt to imply she's pure of heart, telling America that with Executive orders she banished CRT and racism from schools. Honestly, when I saw her picture I thought a Chinese weather balloon was floating over Arkansas.
Wow! Tuesday! The beginning of a four day stretch for me. Don't worry, as far as hours go, I'll be paying for this time off over the next 2 weeks. Next week I'm scheduled for almost 26 hours and the following week 22 hours. Of course, the hours don't really bother me since they pay me well.
I had breakfast with my brother this morning. He's been offered a position as a part-time minister at a Lutheran Church. He's seriously thinking about it. His one issue is that he believes Lutherans to be liberal (can you hear me laughing?).
There is silence from the house next door. The drywaller loaded up his equipment in his Mercedes this morning. That's right, he drives an old Mercedes which he uses as a truck. There's a large trash truck out front and they're hauling old door frames, doors, windows. New doors and windows have been installed; perhaps not the best, probably the ones they could get on sale at Home Depot. I took this picture of the front window they installed, which is too small for the opening. American Craftsman windows are considered a low quality window that are good for low budget projects. Oh, and it appears as though the front porch roof leaks;.
My apologies for posting a video of Harry Styles that CBS ended up blocking because of copyright infringement.
An amusing thing I'd read about the current miniscule Republican party majority running the House of Representatives was advice to the Democrats. Under McCarthy's leadership, they are already hard a work like an army of gnats attempting to orchestrate a number of outrageous investigations. Their stunted political philosophy adheres to their belief that they do much better when they are in attack mode, even if they are just gnats. With this in mind, now is the time for the Democrats to make Hay because the sun is going to shine on them. America is watching. Americans do no care about Hunter Biden's laptop, and his dick pics.
Well, here we are at Monday, the start of a new week. Isn't it exciting? Every week is a new adventure in so many ways.
I'm planning on doing another little video this week for my YouTube channel. I'm thinking of calling it the Note Tote. It seems as though I'm constantly jotting notes down when ever I'm working on a new project and I try to save most of them in a plastic tote. My hard copy manuscripts are also stored in the tote. So, I'm thinking of exploring the latest tote, the one for The Body Under Ice, and putting some of my notes on virtual display.
There were numerous call-offs at the store yesterday, so I ended up working late... in paint.
Grammy awards were given out last night. I don't watch award shows, especially the Grammys. With over 70,000 voting members often nominations are more about name recognition and popularity rather than quality and talent. Beyonce led with 9 nominations and... oops. Well, she did win the award for Best Electronic / Dance Album. This led some bobo from the Washington Post to claim that the Grammy's, for over 20 years, had ignored talented black women. He evidently missed the fact that Lizzo, a very full-figured black woman, won the award for the Record of the Year. Album of the Year went to Harry Styles. Be honest, how could anyone not like Harry dancing around in his silver, sequined, and tasseled jump suit? For the first time in her life, Cher has some very serious competition. I can only wonder how Bob's going to rate him in his "who wore it best" listing.
And, of course, the Chinese weather balloon still has Republicans totally frazzled. One of their latest claims is that the Pentagon never told Trump about the 3 balloons that flew over the continental United States during his administration. If that's true, I'm betting they knew he'd have said, "just ignore them, we don't want to jeopardize any of Ivanka's trademarks."
What the balloon did emphasize, more than anything else, is just how predatory the Republican party is about everything. They've been confused for quite some time, they don't understand being predators does not put them at the top of the food chain, so to speak. They heard about the balloon and went into full attack mode and as a result, when the 3 previous balloons came to light, shit in their pants. A conservative gentleman I work with was very distraught, and I have to admit I did stay on my good behavior and only repeated, "the Republicans really shit in their pants," only 3 times. Jeez, if Harry had shown up in his silver jumpsuit, it would have been the icing on the cake.
Good Morning. While it is still cold outside, the temps are predicted to start climbing. By Tuesday, we're supposed to be in the upper 50s (F). That's right, we will be closing in on 60. I don't mind those temps. I'm saving money on my natural gas bill. According to UGI, I used 47% less gas last month then I did in 2022. I'm fine with that.
The charges from my new electric supplier Clear Sky Energy, will begin on Wednesday. We shall see how that goes. One of the reasons I chose that company is that there is no cancellation fee. If it turns out to not be the deal it's supposed to be, I'll just cancel.
They were working on the house next door most of yesterday, putting in the new windows and door. I haven't seen the quality of the product they're installing, so I don't know how good it is. I did see the flooring they purchased and it's mid-range. It will look good on the floor, but durability has nothing to do with how appearance. A lot of house flippers do this, put in a lesser value product knowing that brand new it will show well.
I made chicken marsala for dinner last night. And pasta. I made enough to take to work today for lunch.
The balloon is down. The Chinese are upset because they were caught doing something stupid. The media, conservative, liberal, and everything outlet in between, set this blaze afire. Rest assured, however, that no matter which way this story drifted, the conservatives were going to fan the flames, anything less would be totally unexpected.
Marjorie Taylor Greene made grew some small headlines when she complained about her salary. That measly $174,000 is wrecking havoc with her finances. The old HR rep in me says if you don't like the job, or what it pays, then get another job. I'm sure she realizes she could probably make a lot more money as a lobbyist, and we all know she's not in Congress to serve her constituents.
While temps north of us are sub-zero cold, we here in Central PA are relatively warm at, what they must think to be balmy, 13 (F). Last night was the coldest we're going to get in this vortex, I least I think this is a polar vortex, if not, it's something similar. Our high today is expected to be in the low 30s (F). Tomorrow, the forecast is for us to reach back into the mid 40s (F).
New windows are being installed in the house next door. When I had Andersen replace some of mine, they came to the house and measured. This is not happening in my neighbor's house. They shopped at Home Depot and bought windows 'off the rack,' so to speak. This means they need to cut and reframe every window, which leaves gaps in the siding. Since the existing siding is yellow aluminum, I suspect that will be the next thing they're going to replace.
I watched Indian Jones and the Temple of Doom last night. The last time I saw it was in the theater in 1984. I was only mildly impressed back then, and was even less impressed last evening. The Indiana Jones character holds up fairly well, but the rest of the movie does a deep dive into some cheesy special effects, bad dialogue, and a third act finale that's uninspiring. Set as a prequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark, had this been the first in the series I have no doubt it would have failed.
And, of course, there is the Chinese weather balloon. I find the entire situation amusing. It's almost as if the Chinese put on their thinking caps to decide what it was they could do to screw things up. Oh, and evidently there's another one cruising above Central America. And the Republicans in the House are so damn stupid. The first thing on their agenda is to shoot it down. Number two on their list is to hold investigative hearings. They don't see a balloon. Nope, as far as they're concerned, this is another dead horse they can kick to the gutter. I thought Adam Kinzinger made a good point when he said that shooting it down would let the Chinese know about our high altitude weapons systems. We all know that level of intelligence is far above that of your average Republican congressman.
Jimmy Jordan's committee issued it's first subpoenas yesterday. They actually believe someone in the administration is going to pay attention to them.
Finally, for those who haven't been paying attention, the Orange Anus has been shrieking about how he could end the war in the Ukraine in 24 hours. While a lot of this is his blustery buffoonery, I wouldn't be surprised this is also a desperate attempt to help his Blow Bro Vlad since things aren't going to well for him and his 3 day war. Superior weapons systems are arriving in the Ukraine which have the capability of taking out Russian soldiers far behind the front line. This is not good, especially when conservative casually counts put the Russian dead at around 200,000. Trump's Blow Bro Vlad is sending his army into a meat grinder.
The cold weather has arrived. Blustery, the high temp today is predicted to be 27 (F), with tonight's low dropping to 14 (F). Tomorrow, forecasters are predicting the temps to climb into the mid 30's (F). By Monday, our daily highs are supposed to be back in the low 50's (F). I've no problem with that.
I was on my way to my local Giant supermarket yesterday morning, when I stopped and talked to two of the workmen from next door. They drywalled the attic, so it's now one large room. What used to be the enclosed back porch has been turned into a bathroom, the new toilet should be coming next week. One of them said that he and his wife would probably move in until they managed to sell the place. With interest rates what they are, they may be living there a long time.
The dry rack arrived yesterday. It's assembled and folded up, awaiting it's first use.
In order to intensify my treadmill speed walks, I've been increasing the incline. Yesterday I was at a 5.5% grade for almost a mile. Holy Crap were my legs sore! It was a good thing I had to work yesterday. I had the chance to walk it off.
Speaking of work, I had a customer who wanted to do a project this weekend; several rooms (?) are going to be turned into an Air BNB and he intended to lay vinyl plank flooring, something he knew nothing about it. Two bathrooms. Neither he, nor his wife / girlfriend had any idea of the dimensions. They had no idea what their square footage was, so when he asked how many boxes he was going to need, all I could do was shrug. He did the same thing with floor leveling compound. He was not pleased when I told him I couldn't tell him if he needed to buy a little bag or a big bag. What they ended up doing was buying a lot of everything, intending to return what they didn't use. When they checked out, he told the cashier he was a contractor. She and I laughed.
Republicans hate anything and everything that hints at socialism. They see it as a scourge against Capitalism, where basically anything goes and the consumer / citizen takes the brunt of the financial pain. I've talked to people who do not understand there is a difference between Socialism and Communism, one woman actually asked me why I think we'd be better as Communists. That is what Republicans are selling, that Socialism is the same as Communism.
For these Republican congressman, Social Security is socialism. Once elected, these same congressmen are set for life: a nice pension and free medical. Why would they care about the average worker in America. I do believe Congress should pass legislation which eliminates their pension and their insurance. If Republicans what pure capitalism, they need to deal with it like the every other American.
So, tell me, don't you think the week is simply zoomin' past? I find it difficult to believe that's Thursday already. As you get older, time passes faster than you'd like, especially if you're busy. Then it's gone before you even know it.
My application to sign up for mail-in voting arrived yesterday. I will go online and take care of it later this morning.
I get to work this afternoon. Only for 6 hours. I like short shifts, especially when they start later in the day. Morning means getting chores done at home. Nothing really gets done if I get home from work after 7 PM. If the dishes weren't put into the dishwasher earlier, that might happen.
The last few evenings I've been re-playing Fallout 4 on the PC. This is my 3rd play through. Part my decision to play this game again is that it's a great RPG, but another part is the series which is (as of right now) to premier on Amazon Prime later this year. For years producers thought films were the only way to bring a game to the big screen, especially since we all have big screens in our homes now. And the The Witcher happened, a very popular video game series premiered on Netflix. Recently, The Last of Us premiered on HBOMax, and from what I've seen is also very popular. This gives me hope for the Fallout series. Next on my gaming list, after Fallout, is Atomic Heart. This looks very interesting and arrives in3 weeks.
So, Kev McCarthy had a sit down with Biden yesterday about the debt ceiling. He has been asked many times what the Republican plan is, especially since their tax break for the rich put the debt ceiling through the roof. He always mumbles out some word salad that includes a number of adverbs, but no verbs, and adjectives that only modify the fact that he doesn't have a true subject. For him, it's the process that's important. He's hoping the end result of this process makes the administration look bad. In a nutshell, that's what he wants, nothing else.
And now a bit about babies because it's important. I suspect that one of the real reasons social conservatives are so anti-abortion is that they desperately want women to have babies, lots of babies. They tell you babies are a blessing from God. If that's true, they might want to ask themselves why both Hindus and Moslems are popping out babies like it's going out of style, while that isn't the case for Christians, especially American Christians. Are Hindus more blessed than Evangelicals? And you'll notice that I didn't even touch upon the subject that most of those babies aren't white.
This Wednesday is starting off with clear, sunny skies. The cold temps coming eastward are predicted to begin funneling northward before they reach Central Pa. Not that we're not going to get cold, we are. Our low on Saturday is expected to be around 9 (F), however, after that the Fahrenheit is going to rise. Our daily highs should be in the mid 40s (F) by Sunday.
I've switched my electric supplier to Clear Sky Energy. My supplier used to be PPL (Pennsylvania Power and Light), however they just got too expensive. Some of their customers are getting a letter, I received an email yesterday apologizing for both their billing issues and their price increase. They included a graph. According to them, my bill is going $30 a month. No, you didn't read the wrong. In two years their 'price to compare' went from $0.092 to $0.14612. I don't doubt that price increase has more to do with stock holders wanting higher dividends then anything else.
So far, the most disappointing thing about my new dryer is that you can download a 'gym clothes' mode. I thought this was going to be a good thing, since my running shorts, and shirts, and my cycling shorts should be dried at low heat. Unfortunately, the dryer shuts off while my shorts, and shirts, and socks are still damp. To be honest, they're not supposed to be put into a dryer, air drying is preferred. Rather than string clothes line around my new laundry room, I'm looking at getting one of those folding drying stands, something that can be put away when it's not being used. Something like this:
I learned yesterday that imminent, in political jargon, means between 2 and 3 weeks. I know I, like a lot of people, thought that when Fani Willis said indictments were imminent was thinking 2 - 3 days. Perhaps this is why the Orange Anus is shrieking so wildly on Truth Social. His ALL CAP posts shriek of the sweet torture he's going through.
People were pleased when George Santos chose to step down from his committee assignments. Let me remind you, his ex has stated that George told him the only reason he was running was to get both the lifetime medical insurance and the pension. Being on committees would mean he'd actually have to work. He is, truly, the epitome of every Republican out there.
